Most senior Supreme Court member resigns

The longest-serving member of the Missouri Supreme Court has announced his resignation. effective Aug. 1.

Judge William Ray Price Jr. has served on the court for 20 years. He told Gov. Jay Nixon in a letter Monday he's leaving the high court August 1st, to return to private legal practice.

Price was appointed in April 1992 by Republican Gov. John Ashcroft. He was re-appointed by voters most recently in 2006 for a term that would have ended in 2018. In his letter to the governor, Price says he wants his successor to be chosen through Missouri's nonpartisan judicial selection process.

Missouri lawmakers have approved a proposed amendment to the state Constitution revising parts of that process. The amendment will appear on a statewide ballot later this year.